Yasser Arafat:
Speech to the U.N. General Assembly Renouncing Terror

(December 13, 1988)

Addressing the General Assembly in Geneva, Arafat renounced terrorism and condemned all its forms. He also called for the implementation of the 1947 partition resolution and the withdrawal of Israel from the territories and said the conflict must be ended through an international conference. He also called on the leaders of Israel to negotiate under UN sponsorship.

Excerpts of the Arafat speech follow:

I am both proud
and happy to meet with you today, here in Geneva, after an arbitrary
American decision barred me from going to you there ...

I extend deep gratitude
to all nations, forces and international organizations and personalities
who backed our people and supported its national rights.... I also thank
the Western European nations and Japan for their latest stands toward
our people and I invite them to take further steps to positively evolve
their resolutions in order to open the way for peace and a just settlement
in our region, the Middle East....

We set out in the Palestine
Liberation Organization to look for realistic and attainable formulas
that would settle the issue on the basis of possible rather than absolute
justice while securing the rights of our people to freedom, sovereignty
and independence; ensuring for everyone peace, security and stability;
and sparing Palestine and the Middle East wars and battles that have
been going on for 40 years....

Israel's response to all
this has been the escalation of its settlement and annexation schemes;
the fanning of the flames of conflict with more destruction, devastation
and bloodshed; and the expansion of the confrontation fronts to include
brotherly Lebanon, which was invaded by the occupation troops in 1982,
an invasion punctuated with slaughters and massacres perpetrated against
the Lebanese and Palestinian peoples, including the Sabra and Shatila
massacres....

It is painful and regrettable
that the American government alone should continue to back these aggressive
and expansionist schemes as well as Israel's continued occupation of
Palestinian and Arab territories, its crimes, and its iron-fist policy
against our children and women.

It is painful and regrettable
too that the American government should continue refusing to recognize
the right of six million Palestinians to self-determination, a right
which is sacred to the American people and other peoples on this planet....

Out people does not want
a right which is not its own or which has not been vested in it by international
legitimacy and international law. It does not seek its freedom at the
expense of anyone else's freedom, nor does it want a destiny which negates
the destiny of another people. Our people refuses to be better or worse
than any other people. Our people wants to be the equal of all other
peoples, with the same rights and obligations....

While we greatly appreciate
the free American voices that have explained and supported our position
and resolutions, we note that the U.S. administration remains uncommitted
to even-handedness in its dealings with the parties to the conflict.
It continues to demand from us alone the acceptance of positions which
cannot be determined prior to negotiations and dialogue within the framework
of the international conference....

It [the Palestine National
Council) has also reaffirmed its rejection of terrorism in all its forms,
including state terrorism...

This position, Mr. President,
is clear and free of all ambiguity. And yet, I, as chairman of the Palestine
Liberation Organization, hereby once more declare that I condemn terrorism
in all its forms...

The United Nations bears
a historic, extraordinary responsibility toward our people and their
rights. More than 40 years ago, the United Nations, in its Resolution
181, decided on the establishment of two states in Palestine, one Palestinian
Arab and the other Jewish. Despite the historic wrong that was done
to our people, it is our view today that the said resolution continues
to meet the requirements of international legitimacy which guarantee
the Palestinian Arab people's right to sovereignty and national independence.

In my capacity as chairman
of the PLO Executive Committee, presently assuming the functions of
the provisional government of the State of Palestine, I therefore present
the following Palestinian peace initiative:

First: That a serious effort
be made to convene, under the supervision of the secretary-general of
the United Nations, the preparatory committee of the international conference
for peace in the Middle East... to pave the way for the convening of
the international conference, which commands universal support except
from the government of Israel.

Second: ... that actions
be undertaken to place our occupied Palestinian land under temporary
United Nations supervision, and that international forces be deployed
there to protect our people and, at the same time, to supervise the
withdrawal of the Israeli forces from our country.

Third: The PLO will seek
a comprehensive settlement among the parties concerned in the Arab-Israeli
conflict, including the State of Palestine, Israel and other neighbours,
within the framework of the international conference for peace in the
Middle East on the basis of Resolutions 242 and 338 and so as to guarantee
equality and the balance of interests, especially our people's rights
in freedom, national independence, and respect the right to exist in
peace and security for all.

If these principles are
endorsed at the international conference, we will have come a long way
toward a just settlement, and this will enable us to reach agreement
on all security and peace arrangements...

I come to you in the name
of my people, offering my hand so that we can make true peace, peace
based on justice.

I ask the leaders of Israel
to come here under the sponsorship of the United Nations, so that, together,
we can forge that peace...

And here, I would address
myself specifically to the Israeli people in all their parties and forces,
and especially to the advocates of democracy and peace among them. I
say to them: 'Come let us make peace. Cast away fear and intimidation.
Leave behind the spectre of the wars that have raged continuously for
the past 40 years ..........